The Art of Subterfuge
by Helgrind Jierda
Summary: Sword Art Online was not only released in Japan. In an effort to get more people to buy the game, 250 copies of the game were sent overseas to the United States of America during the Beta. Those Beta testers also received hard copies of the game as well as a Nerve Gear helmet. Our story begins moments after Akihiko Kayaba announces that this isn't a game anymore...
1. A Whole New World

**Chapter 1: A Whole New World**

**Summary: **Sword Art Online was not only released in Japan. In an effort to get more people to buy the game, 250 copies of the game were sent overseas to the United States of America during the Beta. Those 250 American Beta testers were also given a set of Nerve Gear and a hard copy of the game when it was officially released. Our story begins moments after Akihiko Kayaba announces that this isn't a game anymore…

I can't believe this, there is no way he could do this. It can't be possible… but if it is… I need to be able to protect my friends. My name is Helgrind by the way, but I have more pressing matters for me to attend to then introductions. As the rest of the people here begin to panic, there are a select few who seem to understand what is really going on. It can be seen in their faces, the shock, the disbelief, the fear. If what Kayaba said is true, and these people don't get it together, then will not survive long. Though not everyone seems to be scared, there are a few that almost looked happy, like… I don't even want to think about what they have in mind. I must be strong, not only for myself, but for all the others. I ran away, away from the madness that this game, no this reality, has become. I ran through the city, with only one goal: to get away. Then something dawned on me.

I cannot do this alone, I will need allies. No, more than that, I will need friends. But first I must prove my own strength. With so many different ways to prove my own strength, how will I do it? I need to find something that others will be unwilling to do, and excel at it. That is how I have always lived my life. By becoming something that everyone wants, there is no way for me to die. Equipment wise everyone starts with a sword, so there is little I can do to distinguish myself. But then again, maybe there is? By now the only sounds I hear are my own feet hitting the floor and my blood pounding in my ears. I stopped running just before I reached the boundary of the city. Scanning the vast fields in front of me something caught my attention in the corner of my eye, as I looked to my left I saw another player as he continued to run. He was clearly prepared to abandon everyone and serve only himself, as for me? I was nowhere nearly that prepare to leave everyone. I had to go back to my friends; we had to make sure that we all got out of this alive. I turned on my heel and ran back through the now semi-crowded street to find my friends. Knowing that I wouldn't be able to find them by just looking around, there were thousands of people randomly running around in a mass panic. So instead I sent a quick message to some of them and told them that we needed to gather together and where to meet me. Being that we were all Beta testers, we were able to quickly navigate to our agreed upon location. A small isolated shop that sold unusual items. It was in a "less than high class" neighborhood. I smiled as I went because I knew we would be alone. When everyone arrived, we tried to implement a plan of action. The main question we wanted to answer: How were we going to beat this death game?

"We should power through it," Mattias suggested, "the sooner we get done with it, the better!" He emphasized his point by slamming his fist on the table. He is a little bit shorter than me but a little heavier than me as well. He wore a simple red tunic with his weapon strapped to his back, a two-handed long sword. He was probably the most experienced gamer among us. He also carried himself in a way that said "I know what I'm doing, you should follow me" but not to the point that he was arrogant or foolhardy. There were a few murmurs that sounded like agreement, but then I spoke,

"We could do that, but that would only increase the chance of our deaths. Remember, if you die here, there is no respawn, no second chance. You are dead."

The group seemed to understand what I was saying, but there were those who seemed to doubt that this was really a death game. They made their voices heard,

"What if he was lying?" "There can be no proof that when you die here, you die IRL too."

I turned toward the direction I heard the complaints from and before I could say anything Mattias stood said, "Do you really want to test that theory? He told us that 213 people have already died! If you still doubt him, why don't we have a duel, and when you die let's see if you respawn?" Now I've known Mattias my entire life, and I can tell he would have easily kicked this guy's ass in about ten seconds.

After the fool took his seat I took a look around; it seemed that we were divided: those who wanted to power through, those who wanted to take it slow, and those who didn't believe that this was a death game. If we didn't reach some kind of conclusion soon, we would go nowhere in this game. I knew if we got stuck in the starting city too long we would never get anywhere. So I tried a different tactic,

"We need to get stronger," I said, and the whispering in the crowd died down so I continued, "we need to become stronger, and that won't happen if we sit here and argue. I say we postpone any major decisions until after we clear the first floor, with any luck that will be within the next week or two."

That seemed to be rational for most of us, so it was the course we chose. I was thinking of different ways to get to the next couple of towns, when I realized that everyone was still looking at me. It dawned on me that, by making that decision, I became the leader here. Or at least they saw me as a leader. But being a leader is not something that I wanted to be. I wanted to be an observer, someone who would watch-and-learn before making a decision. I made my position clear,

"I am not fit be our leader, and this is not something I want. I am far from qualified for this position," I looked around the room and continued, "I do not care who decides to take charge. However, they should always put the needs of the group first. I, just as any of you should, will make my opinion known if it is necessary. I will give what I think to be the most logical answer to the problem. And right now, the most logical answer is for us to get stronger before we try to do anything stupid."

Finished with what I said, I took a seat near the door. We sat in silence for a bit, maybe it five minutes, maybe it was thirty minutes? I stood, getting tired of doing nothing, and made to leave. Before I could go, I felt a hand on my shoulder. A soft feminine voice spoke behind be just above a whisper,

"Where do you think you're going?"

I turned to see my longtime friend and short time girlfriend, Amator. Fighting the small blush that I felt growing on my cheeks, I turned to her fully and said loud enough for everyone else to hear,

"I am going to the next town, going to get stronger. I will not wait for someone else to clear the game for me." I knew that if we waited too long, it would be nearly impossible to get strong enough to advance in the game. "Those of you who wish to join me are welcome, but I am leaving now. I hope to see all of you in the next town by the end of tomorrow."

To my surprise, everyone got up and moved toward the door after me. Then to my shock, I realized they still saw me as their leader even after that little speech I gave about not wanting to be their leader.

I gave a sigh of displeasure and continued through the city. As we approached the city square, I made a quick detour to go around it not wanting to see what other people were doing. With the city far behind us, I slowed my pace to match that of Mattias's. I was in need of his opinion on a few things.

"So what do you think? How should we go about this? You know, trying to level up and clear the game as a whole?" He looked skyward and blew out a heavy breath before answering, "I think… I think the best way is to go after the more difficult monsters. You get more experience and col (money) for killing them, which should help everyone level up. I think we should only go after the bosses when we are at least ten levels higher than the floor we are on." That made sense to me so we walked in silence for a while. I soon realized that not everyone was on the same level; (you know what I mean,) as Mattias and myself. There were going to be people who did not want to become floor clearing bad asses, they may want to take up some of the other skills that the game offers. I brought this up to Mattias, "Hey, do you think we should split the group? Those who want to become warriors, and those who want to do… well you know, other things." He considered what I said with a thoughtful expression on his face and waited a while before answering. Just as he opened his mouth he was cut off by someone else,

"-You can't begin other skills like blacksmithing and such until we get to level two. So it would probably be best if everyone was capable of protecting themselves first." it took me a second to recognize the speaker as an old acquaintance of mine, Hastam. He stood a few inches shorter than me, and long brown hair that he had stopped trying to control ages ago. He wasn't always the brightest star in the sky, but he did have his moments. He continued, "It actually works out pretty well with what you said earlier Helgrind. You know? Postpone that major decision you were talking about?" I raised my eyebrows in mild surprise. Like I said, he has his moments.

We walked with the virtual sun setting behind us; I paused to look back as the sun just began to dip below the horizon. Despite the fact that I knew it was fake, it's still a very beautiful sight. Turning my attention to the path ahead I jogged to catch up with Mattias and Hastam.

As we continued along the path, I saw something up ahead. "Do you guys see that?" I asked as I strained my neck to get a better view. "No… what are you talking about?" Mattias said. "Yeah I don't see anything," Hastam said in agreement. I could have sworn that I saw a pair of red eyes in the trees in front of us.

Suddenly, without warning, a pack of wolves jumped from the trees and surrounded our group. Their eyes had an eerie red glow to them, there was saliva dripping from their snarling mouths as they bared their teeth at us. The sound of fifteen weapons being drawn briefly cut through the snarling of the wolves.

We were surrounded, we were outnumbered, but we were not outmatched.

The stronger players made a perimeter around the weaker ones and glanced around to see who would be the first one to attack. The wolves began to circle our group in a slow, almost calculated way; their eyes darting to the inner circle of our weaker players, working out how they could get past the outer ring.

Mattias was the first to charge at his wolf, his battle cry quickly followed by that of the rest of the outer circle. I made it my goal to protect the inner circle, so I did not attack, I knew those on the inside would become very instrumental in victory later in the game. However, I did not miss out on all of the action; (remember that unusual item shop we met at?) I started to use the many throwing picks I had purchased to gain a bit of experience for myself.

The wolves were beginning to drive us off of the trail because of their sheer numbers, and our warriors were beginning to be separated. I realized that these wolves were smart, very smart, and a lot smarter than they were probably given credit for. I really hoped that I wasn't the only one to realize this. I wasn't.

"Everybody! To me, we must stand together!" A commanding voice called out. This voice belonged to our bearded wonder, Thor. He wielded a simple mace and wore a tunic of orange. I finished off a wolf with a swift blow to the head from my sword and began to move the group towards the sound of Thor's voice. We found him near a very steep cliff face, when I saw it, I was afraid. There are a few things that I don't like, being put up against a wall facing a vicious pack of wolves was on that list and climbing quickly to the top.

By now night had fallen, and there seemed to be no end to the wolves. They just kept coming out of the darkness, as if they were part of the shadows themselves. Then I saw something that surprised me, when I tried to upper cut with my sword I accidentally swung too low and scraped the ground at my feet. Needless to say the wolf avoided the attack, but jumped far away when the sparks flew from the ground. That was when I had an idea. We needed light to defeat these beasts. I quickly jumped back and hurried to equip a torch to my hand, when the light erupted from the torch the wolves were practically jumping over themselves to get away.

"Light, they are afraid of light! Anyone who has a torch, equip it now!" I shouted to the group behind me. They seemed to get the idea and soon we were able to drive the wolves away and keep them at bay.

A loud cheer went up because we had won, we had survived. I whispered to a tall cloaked player that I had not noticed before that someone should suggest we set up camp for the night. I really didn't want to be the guy in charge. I said to them, "Hey, don't you think we should set up camp here for the night?" He nodded his head, so I said, "And then why don't you suggest we do that?" He seemed to understand what I was getting at and made the suggestion. Thankfully, the idea went off without a hitch. He turned to me and introduced himself as Tenebris, he removed his cowl and I saw a reasonably handsome face that was framed by long jet black hair. I had to look up at him for he was about half a head taller than I was.

We stayed at the cliff because someone, not me, decided that it would be safer to stay than to try and find our way to the nearest town. So a set of guards were appointed to keep watch while the others slept and as I settled into a comfortable spot (as comfortable as stone can be) someone approached me. I opened one eye to observe who was approaching me only to see small group of people consisting of Mattias, Thor, and, Tenebris. I had a feeling that this conversation wasn't going to wait until morning.

Much later…

"So we are in agreement?" I asked the larger group than those who originally came to me, "The best way to survive this game is to divide and conquer. Have people in all of the major guilds and have correspondence so that no one is trying to kill each other." A circle of nodding heads seemed to conclude the meeting, and a few people started to get to their feet, until I asked, "What of the others? Those who don't want to fight. Surely we can think of a way to keep them alive and well?" Those who had risen, now slowly returned to their seats as the realization kicked in. Everyone had a thoughtful expression on their face as they tried to figure out what the rest of the group would be doing. Some people were far too tired to attempt to think, they fell asleep where they sat. Then a single voice arose outside of the group, a feminine voice that started shaky and grew in confidence, "We could be shopkeepers, or merchants, or whatever. Not everyone is cut out to be a warrior," she finished with a bit of sass. It dawned on me that that was pretty much what I had said earlier, 'not everyone is cut out to be a warrior', and perhaps she overheard me from before? "That's very true…" I began cautiously, "but first we have to get to level two before we can begin to focus on that stuff." I gave a look around to see many people once again looking at me like I was in charge. For the first time, I took advantage of that, "Our main focus right now has to be getting to level two, and getting there alive."

I awoke remembering that first day…

That was almost two months ago…

Almost two thousand people have died…

We still haven't cleared the first floor…

**End Chapter 1**

**AN: **So what did you think? For a first time I thought that went pretty well.


	2. The Calm Before the Storm

Chapter 2: The Calm Before the Storm

A/N: The story will mostly follow the timeline of the anime, (if you haven't seen, go do so). However, thanks to this great thing called "Poetic License" I will tell the story from my perspective based on what I would do. If you don't like how I run the show, write your own story and I would love to read it.

Disclaimer: I forgot this for chapter one, I DO NOT own Sword Art Online. This will be the last time I do this disclaimer.

I slowly sat up in my cot and turned to look out of the window to my left. The sky was still dark; the sun of this virtual world hadn't even begun to rise. I stretched my arms over my head and let out a silent yawn. I tried to wipe the sleep from my eyes as I checked for any messages that I may have received last night. I wasn't surprised to see a few messages from my friends, nor was I surprised to see that there was nothing new to report. I released the breath I didn't realize I was holding and looked out the window again. I was in a corner room at the Tolbana Inn. Tolbana is the nearest town to the labyrinth. This makes it the closest town to the first floor boss, who we have yet to find.

We were still on the first floor; we haven't even found the boss room. It's been nearly a month since the game started, in the same amount of time during the Beta I reached at least floor six. I had a feeling I wasn't the only Beta tester who was disappointed in our lack of progress, but I guess slow and steady wins the race, right?

Though it wasn't from lack of trying, plenty of parties go up into the Labyrinth every day, not all of them return whole, or at all. I go into the Labyrinth every other day or so, and not always with a group. When I do go solo, it is more of a scouting mission than anything. Get in, expand my map, and get out.

Back to the present.

I am currently level twelve and my friends are around same area. I am by no means the highest level person out of my group of friends. If we were to average the levels, it would be around ten or eleven.

I still fight with my single handed sight sword but I am developing a liking for something… smaller. I see the need for a shield, but using a shield doesn't fit my style. I really tried to use one, just to see what would happen. It was during the Beta testing, I found myself relying on my shield too much and taking loads of damage. The way the game was designed didn't allow me to use the shield to its fullest potential, mainly being able to use it for both defense and attack.

As for armor, I am trying to keep away from heavy armor because even in other games it never fit my playing style. Currently I am wearing a basic set of leather armor. It is dark brown in color and looks similar to a biker jacket. Underneath the jacket is a piece of armor that covers my upper torso. I have basic fingerless gloves on my hands and a single bracer, under the jacket, on my left forearm with an Old Republic Jedi Order symbol engraved on it.

Mattias, currently level fourteen, is stuck between using a two-handed claymore and using a sword and shield combination. His favorite attack used to be just charging in and taking down everyone or everything in his path. He has since become more methodical, but still relies heavily on a berserker barrage.

He enjoys using heavy armor and being a tank. His armor is quite similar to Diavel's, in that it is large and covers more of his body than the average piece of armor. It is different in that it is red in color and suited better for a left-handed swords man. Engraved on his heavy gauntlets were symbols of suns, and when he used his shield there was a large sun off center to the left.

Tenebris, currently level twelve, has abandoned his sword in favor for a dagger, which honestly surprised me at this early stage in the game. He keeps his dagger concealed behind his back with the hilt angled out to the right. He prefers sneaking behind his target and then dealing massive damage with a single blow. Due to his need to be behind his target before attacking his sneak skill is higher than any one of my other friends.

His armor is very light, but then again he doesn't see as much combat as the rest of us. It is made mostly of darkly colored leather, with a large full length black cloak that he almost never takes off. The dark cloak only boosts his sneak skill, making him very difficult to find if he doesn't want to be found. He wears a headband embossed with a strange symbol, an infinity sign with a two bar cross pointing upward. He tells me that it will make more sense later in the game.

Thor, level thirteen, has traded in his mace for a War Hammer, which doesn't surprise me at all. He finds a perverse thrill in smashing things with his hammer. This had led to many of us staying well clear of him when he has it in his hand. His strength skill is the highest of the group due to his hammer and its smashing habits.

His armor is also fairly heavy, but not as heavy as Mattias'. The armor itself his overlapping scales that should assist in deflecting damage away from him. He has managed to find a red cape that he wears attached to his shoulders. On one side of his War hammer is the symbol of Mjolnir, the hammer of Thor. He proudly stands on the front lines for many battles.

Hastam, currently level nine, is sticking with his spear, (I don't think he ever picked up a sword in the first place). He is wearing a set of medium armor, not too heavy or light. A single piece of armor covers his entire torso, while he wears light bracers on his forearms. A blue surcoat, with a weed leaf embossed on the front, covers his armor. He seems far too easy going for the situation that we are in. I honestly don't know how long he will survive if he doesn't change his attitude.

(Don't average these numbers, these are just the people we met last chapter.)

I head out of town just as the rays, but not the sun itself, begins to crest over the horizon. It is easier to do things early in the morning because there aren't as many players roaming around. Today I will be going solo around the nearby fields in search of a worthy monster opponent.

I stroll leisurely through the fields before I encounter a pair of boars. I don't even bother to draw my sword; instead I rapidly throw throwing picks at them until they disintegrate into a shower of triangular pixels. It took about three picks each, but I have plenty more where those came from. The experience and money is small but is better than none. A strong breeze blows through the fields and I pause to take a deep breath while closing my eyes. When I open my eyes again, there standing in front of me is the mother of all boars. Standing easily twice my height and many times my weight, it shook the ground when it walked. I drew my sword with my right hand and held it horizontally at shoulder height pointed at the boar. While my left hand selected three throwing picks from my belt and stayed at the ready near my right ear. We stood facing each other as the wind blew past us, as if we weren't even there. A stray tumbleweed bounced between us to further set the mood.

A loud squeal was my only warning before the behemoth charged. I threw my picks but they just bounced off of its hide and I dodged to the left letting my sword cut into its hide as it ran by. It didn't even seem to feel my sword as it turned around with any even angrier look in its eyes. I tried a different tactic, this time when it charged I stood shock still with my sword poised for an uppercut attack. I waited until the last moment, and then I jumped vertically. Landing on the boar's snout I thrust my sword to the hilt into its left eye. It thrashed its head and threw me off before I could pull my sword out. I rolled to break my fall before looking up to see the boar still struggling to get my sword out of its eye. A quick peek at my health bar showed that I had lost about fifteen percent of health. Since it was distracted I took the opportunity to equip my next strongest weapon, a dagger. It was long for a dagger, more like a short sword, but it just seemed to fit my hand perfectly. I held it in my left hand for now while I selected a single throwing pick with my right hand. The boar had stopped thrashing and was looking around for me. When it saw me, oh man, the look it gave me would have made a lesser man shit his pants, but then again I'm not a lesser man.

I took the pause in its movement to let loose my throwing pick on the now stationary target… it founds its mark, in the boar's right eye. The boar was now completely blind. It was not going to find me, despite the size of its snout, because this was a line-of-sight monster. It charged at me, but I didn't have to move because it was not going to hit me. It missed about five meters to my left. It continued to randomly charge without getting anywhere near me.

It took me another thirty minutes to kill it with just my dagger. While I checked to see how much experience and Cor I earned in the fight, a little box popped up indicating that there was an item drop. Two items in fact. The one drop was a very rare item, something I had never seen before. It was a dagger called "Sword Breaker." It was too high a level for me to equip it right away so I threw it into my item storage. When I go back into town I'll see if it's worth anything. Funnily enough, the other drop was the sword that used to stab the pig in the eye. Imagine that.

After re-equipping my sword, I left the fields and headed into a nearby forest. The rest of my time in the forest was fairly uneventful. The sun had reached its zenith and shone brightly through the tree branches overhead. The sunlight left a dappled pattern on the path that I was following. I continued down the path, not really paying attention to where I was going, when I noticed a small stone structure ahead of me to the right. It was a series of small stones stacked on top of each other, about the height of my knee. This was not something that happened naturally.

It looked like a path marker, but I didn't see any paths other than the one I was walking on. I wasn't really doing anything today anyway so I turned perpendicular from the main path and walked straight past the stone marker and into the forest. After about twenty meters or so a real path began to take shape out of the trees. The path was small at first, only room for one person abreast, but then it grew wider to be able to fit four or five people abreast until it finally ended in a medium sized clearing. On the other side of the clearing was a cave entrance flanked by two tall stone guardians. They were genuflecting towards each other with their heads bowed. Each held a sword with the point in the ground and their hands wrapped around the hilt. Both of them wore full suits of knightly armor.

I moved into the clearing crouching cautiously with my hand on my sword and my eyes scanning surrounding area, ready for an ambush. I didn't remember this from the Beta test, but then again, I wasn't forced to stay in the game like I am now. Standing from my crouch but not taking my hand off of my sword I advanced to the entrance of the cave.

The stone guardians were as still as, well… stone. They gave me a weird feeling, like they would drop their peaceful personas and attack me. Nothing happened. I continued into the cave, but my eyes never left the guardians. I was finally forced to turn around so that I could see what lay inside the cave.

Before proceeding any further, I quickly equipped a dark green cloak to boost my sneaking skill. (I know black is better, but green is my color.) I checked my map to see if I could get a better idea as to where I was, but now such luck. My map was blank, as if I had just walked into a new dungeon. That did not help my confidence because as far as anyone else knew this place didn't even exist. If I was attacked, there would be no way for my friends to find me. I was flying solo into thick cloud cover. With a true reason to be scarred I drew my sword. I continued apprehensively until I saw a faint glow of light from around a corner. I approached slowly, hugging the wall to hide myself as best as possible. I tried to use the flat of my sword as a mirror to see around the corner, but it didn't work. I slowly rounded the corner and what I saw took my breath away.

CLIFFHANGER!

Nah, I wouldn't do that. (Not yet anyway).

It was a large, ornate, double door inlaid with gold, silver, and various jewels. It was flanked on either side by torches that never extinguished. I approached apprehensively anticipating an ambush. When I reached the door and reached out to try to open it a message popped up. It was from Mattias, he marked it as urgent. Before I read his message I opened my map and placed a marker where I was so that I would be able to return later. This was his message,

"Found the Boss room. A meeting today in Tolbana. Be there."

I read it again, not sure that I had read it correctly. There was nothing wrong with my vision; I was just so surprised that we had finally found the Boss room. I turned from the ornate door and ran as fast as I could to get back to Tolbana. I ran so quickly that I raised my speed stat a few levels.

Only when I finally reached the outer limits of Tolbana did I begin to slow my pace. Not one to attract attention to myself I used side streets and alleys to get to the meeting place. Before the meeting began I searched for Mattias only to find him in the front row, and I sure as hell wasn't going to sit in the front. Scanning the other assembled players I found Tenebris and Thor. Thor was right in the middle of everything while Tenebris was keeping to himself far away from the other players. He saw me and we exchanged nods of greeting. I took a seat way in the back under one of the pillars and waited for the meeting to begin.

A little ways into the meeting…

So far he was a good public speaker, he really knew how to get everyone involved and motivated to go defeat the boss. However, he lost me when he suggested that we form parties. I prefer to be a solo player so being in a party wasn't really my thing. I quickly looked around to see if my friends had already formed parties, which to my shock, they had. Mattias was already in a party with Diavel, that much I knew. Thor was shaking a large black man's hand which probably meant that they were in a party. Tenebris straight up left and I was getting desperate. I frantically looked for a group of less than six people when I saw two people sitting to my left. One of them had a dark red cloak that obscured their features; the other had a blue shirt with sword strapped to his back. They exchanged what I assumed to be pleasantries before they formed a group. I jumped down a few steps to get on the same level as them and then slid over. I tapped the blue shirted one on the shoulder to get his attention and said to him,

"Hey I noticed that you two are a small group and could benefit from another player. I'm a solo player so I'm not that good at this," I scratched the back of my neck and quickly added. "It would only have to be for this fight."

He seemed to understand where I was coming from; maybe he was a solo player too? He turned and looked to the cloaked player who only gave a slight nod, indicating that it was okay for me to join. He sent me an invite which I quickly accepted. I took a minute to read the names my new party members, Kirito and Asuna. Neither of them made an indication as to who they were, so I was left to guess that Kirito was the blue shirted one while Asuna was the one with the cloak. I thought things were going well, but then another player shouted down from the top of the stands,

"Hold up a sec!" He then quickly jumped down the stands to take the stage next to Diavel before he continued,

"My name's Kibaou. Got that?" He was a small stocky looking player with a large long sword on his back. His hair was spiky like that of a medieval jester's hat and his brown eyes were filled with hate.

I thought with a small smile to myself, 'This outta be good.' The smile faded as he continued to talk, blaming the Beta testers for not helping the new players and causing their deaths. He even assumed that there were Beta testers here. I shrugged my shoulders at that statement. Well he wasn't wrong. He did cross a line when he suggested that the Beta testers should give up all of their earnings to the new players because it would be the only way for them to "earn our trust."

I could tell that Kirito was having trouble dealing with what he was saying, as he cringed at every accusation and statement that Kibaou made. Me? I was about ready to stand up and say something when someone beat me to it. It was the same guy that Thor was in a party with. His name was Agil, and boy was he big. He was at least a whole head taller than Kibaou, and way more muscular, the battle axe strapped to his back was just daring someone to mess with him.

Repeating the gist of what Kibaou had said to be sure that they were on the same page; he then calmly showed Kibaou what was available for free at any the item store, a guide book. Agil then, just as calmly, told Kibaou that is was the ex-Beta testers who were handing out the guide books. A collective gasp from the audience was all Agil needed to continue. He went on to explain that everyone had an equal chance to obtain the guide book, and even so many players died.

Kirito looked calmer after Agil had made that statement, perhaps he too was a Beta tester? I couldn't see the expression of Asuna because she, I had to assume she was a she, was wearing a hood. Agil finished by saying that he was here to figure out how we were going to defeat the boss. He gave one last look at Kibaou before both of them took their seats. Thor gave him an encouraging fist bump after he sat down. Diavel, with the consent of the group, continued on about the boss. All of the information was in the latest edition of the guide book that Agil had mentioned.

His name: Illfang the Kobold Lord. Number of health bars: Four. His weapons: An axe and buckler. His minions: the Ruin Kobold Sentinels. And what happens when his last health bar is in the red: He switches to a curved weapon called a talwar instead of his axe and shield. The last thing he said caused the most commotion: that Illfang can change his patterns of attack. A quick glance towards Mattias revealed that he too was unsettled about the news.

He finished the meeting with how we were going to divide the loot. Money will be divided equally amongst everyone, experience will go to the winning party, and anyone who gets an item gets to keep it. When no one objected he officially ended the meeting.

Neither Kirito nor I noticed that Asuna had begun to leave until we heard her footsteps receding away from us. I got up and made to leave as well but before I left I turned to Kirito and told him,

"I know how tough it can be to be a solo player. So if you ever need any help, don't hesitate to ask."

He looked a bit surprised by what I said. His response was hesitant while looking down and away, "Thanks, but…"

I cut him off before he could say anything else by raising my hand, "Hey man, even solo players need friends, and who better to be friends with than another solo player? Let me put it this way: If I can help you, I will. If you can help me, you will. OK?" I had a feeling that he could become a very powerful player in this game, and the more we helped each other, the better our chances of survival. He understood what I meant with a curt nod. I held out my hand and we shook on it. I added him to my friends list before finally walking away.

Diavel said we were going to meet again before the boss raid tomorrow, which meant that there was a party planned for tonight.

Later that evening….

Never being one for parties, I went to a nearby hill and lay down to watch the stars in the sky. I closed my eyes and tried to imagine what I would be doing in the real world right now, probably studying for midterms and/or finals in my university courses. For a second, just a fleeting second, I was glad that I didn't have to study for finals. I realized with a frown that while I wouldn't have to study for finals, I would have to study attack patterns on monsters hell bent on killing me. That was made harder by the fact that if I was defeated, I died IRL. In college, if you fail an exam you can always retake it (after paying a large amount of money), but you don't die. Here, in this world, if I fail… it wouldn't matter how much money I could pay, there are no second chances. If I ever wanted to see the real stars again we would have to defeat Illfang the Kobold Lord, his defeat was the first step on a tall stairway to heaven. If we failed, we would be in the fast lane of a highway to hell.

I sat up and took one last long look at the stars in the sky before I turned my attention to the celebration occurring in the town. I decided that it would be best if I was fully rested for the fight tomorrow instead of fighting a virtual hangover. Walking past the town square I saw Mattias throw back another virtual drink before stumbling around and finally falling face first onto the ground. The crowd laughed at his antics, I simply smiled and turned toward the general direction of the inn. On my way there I noticed Kirito and Asuna sitting together outside of the party, assumedly talking. I let them be and continued on to the inn. When I got there, there was someone already waiting for me. It was Tenebris.

Approaching him with my hood drawn, we stood silently for a minute before he nodded his head in the direction of the tavern. Without any words spoken we both turned and went into the tavern. It was late and I wanted to get some sleep so I cut the small talk 'Hellos' and got to the point,

"So to what do I owe the honor? We have hardly spoken outside of a few messages here and there, so why meet now?"

We sat in a corner table in an effort to not be overheard. The tavern was dimly lit and quiet, because of the party currently going on outside. Aside from the two of us and the NPC bartender wiping the bar down, there were only three other people in the entire tavern.

He took his time responding to my question, the gears in his head turning. When he did speak, it was slow and calculated,

"I have a way for us to… obtain… money and items."

I leaned forward slightly in my seat to show he had my undivided attention. His head was down as he continued,

"It's kind of a dicky way to go about doing it, but it is proven effective. Here is the idea: We ambush a low level traveler, threaten his life, take his valuables, and leave." He looked up trying to read my expression, while I did my best to maintain a neutral one.

It was now my turn to have gears turning in my head. Immediately, I thought that it was an dishonorable thing to do, but as the gears kept turning, another thought popped into my head. The idea continued to grow, it was just missing a few pieces.

He seemed to take my silence as a sign that I wasn't on board with his idea, "If you don't want to do that you don't have to. We can pretend this conversation never-" I cut him off by raising my hand and leaning further in. I looked both ways before I said in a low voice,

"Your idea, is terrible. But the premise, the premise, is spot on. We have you "attack" a low level player in your cloak so they don't know who it is, you take everything that they have, but before you can "finish" them off… I step in and save the day. I would "kick" your ass and save their lives, which they would then owe me. This can be more profitable than we think."

I leaned back in my chair as I finished and steepled my was now a plan that could be set in motion as early as the next morning. It would take time no doubt, but then agian Rome wasn't built in a day.

His expression was one of mild shock. He said,

"I didn't really think you would have agreed to something like this" he took a pause and looked at me with a critical eye, "What are you planning?"

A small smile appeared on my lips as I said, "Don't worry about it. Have patience. In time, all will be revealed."

He looked at me suspiciously and was about to comment on what I said when he appeared to think better of it and drop the topic. He changed gears and asked, "Are you actually going to fight in the boss battle? I think I'm going to sit this one out."

I appreciated the change in gears and responded, "I joined a party believe it or not." I leaned forward in my chair and continued, "Don't really know much about either of the players but they seem like a capable bunch." I thought to myself, 'It really shouldn't matter, everyone who is going to be involved in the raid is at least ten levels above the boss.'

We both had a lot to think about for tomorrow so it was no surprise when Tenebris rose from his seat and strode towards the door. Just before he left I jumped up and called out, "Hey! Remember, no "finishing," you don't want a bad rap."

He smiled and nodded before leaving the tavern. I sat back in my chair and thought some more on this idea I had floating around in my head. It wasn't long before I paid for my drink and left as well. The last thing I remember before falling asleep was that it would be best if I didn't let anyone know about what I was thinking.

The next morning…

Tenebris ambushed his first target…

I was with the raid group…

We were going down a path we might never return from…

A/N: Please review as you see fit, be it harsh or kindly, I will read them as they come and attempt to respond, attempt being the key word. As you can probably tell I'm new at this and would benefit greatly from any and all help.


	3. The First Battle Begins

**Chapter 3: The First Battle Begins**

**A/N:** I am very excited to see that people are actually reading this story. I am sorry for the long absence of story. More about that later. Enjoy. Any and all reviews are beneficial.

Kirito, Asuna, and I were walking behind the rest of the raid group. Kirito had taken the point position while Asuna flanked him to his left and me to his right. Asuna was still wearing her red cloak and I was wearing my green one while Kirito was once again without a cloak. Kirito was giving us the rundown on how we were going to be involved in the fight. This was already discussed back in Tolbana before we left; he just wanted to be sure that everyone was on the same page.

"Let's go over it again. We're the back up, so our focus is going to be the boss's minions, the Ruin Kobold Sentinels," He told us as we walked through the forest to the Labyrinth.

"We know," Asuna and I said together, if a slight hint of annoyance was present in my voice neither of them said anything about it.

"I'll use a sword skill to knock their weapons up and out of the way. When I do, switch and jump in," He was confident with his strategy. That is, until Asuna asked innocently,

"What's a switch?"

Kirito balked at the statement and looked at her first with surprise then grew serious. I raised my eyebrows because I was just as surprised as he was. He asked in a blunt manner,

"O.K. level with us. Is this the first time you have ever been in a party?"

A quiet but not shy, "Mmhmm" was her response.

Kirito slowed to a stop as Asuna kept walking. He let out a sigh and let his entire body droop. I came up alongside Kirito and put my hand on his shoulder. I was trying to tell him non-verbally that, 'It was going to be O.K.'

As the raid group approached the entrance to the Labyrinth, I remembered that it was not going to be as easy as just walking in and facing the boss. We would have to go up twenty levels of monster infested corridors before having to face the boss, who will no doubt be well rested and ready to fight us. This was cause for some concern. I didn't think that everyone was at a high enough level to get through this.

I knew that if the levels of everyone present for this fight were averaged, they would be around ten. I have a policy of being at least ten levels above the recommended level to accomplish something. There were some people here who were only level six, there might even be a level five hidden in the mix.

The first test of whether these under leveled players would survive will be in making it to the boss room on the twentieth floor.

On level eighteen…

The monsters were getting harder, but that was to be expected. What was not expected was the near loss of life of one of the under leveled players. The party he was in had taken point for the floor as part of a rotation. As we climbed the Labyrinth the parties rotated in an effort to keep people rested and ready to fight. Kirito, Asuna, and I were not part of the rotation because of our small party size. Instead we jumped in whenever we were ready. A small group of four Ruin Kobold Troopers was the only thing blocking our advance to the next level. They were humanoid in nature, but very bulky. They have large rabbit-like ears and long thick tails. Each Trooper carried a single barbaric hand axe.

When the Troopers saw the party approaching they took offensive stances and prepared to attack. The Troopers charged the party, whose three shield equip members hurried to the front to block the advance. The last Trooper broke through the defense line and attacked a young looking spearman. The Trooper raised his axe and activated a sword skill. His axe shown with a bright red light before being brought down on the spearman who attempted to block the attack with the shaft of his spear. The shaft broke and the axe cut deeply into his right shoulder.

The spearman flew backwards and collapsed on the ground, his health in the red. Kirito and I moved in to stand in front of the downed player, our swords drawn.

Kirito's sword was large, almost a long sword, but he only wielded it with one hand even though there was more than enough room on the handle for his other hand. The blade itself was broad before tapering to a point. The cross guard stretched wide and had two grooves on either side. The handle was wrapped in black leather and looked as if it was hastily added as a last minute idea. The pommel looked like a stone that had been roughly cut to come to a point. He held it behind him as if he was preparing for an uppercut attack. I believe it is called "Anneal Blade."

My sword was smaller by comparison and was much thinner. It was a simple sword, but it was also very strong. The blade was thin and straight, with short 'wings' angled toward the blade acting as a cross guard. The handle was covered in ray skin and it offered a great deal of grip. The pommel of my blade was a simple piece of metal in the shape of a fleur de lis. I held it at my side in my right hand with the point near the ground. I received after completing a quest earlier but was too low a level to equip it at the time. It is called, "Akutō."

Before the Trooper could attack the other two party members rushed to form a wall in front of spearman to keep him alive. I started to circle the Trooper in a wide arc to get behind him while Kirito readied himself for the attack.

Kirito darted forward and slashed the Trooper across its chest. The red mark left by his sword was clearly visible and made me think that he had landed a critical hit.

The Trooper roared and tried to attack Kirito but the two party members moved in front of him and blocked the attacks with their respective weapons. Kirito jumped in and dealt another heavy attack on the monster almost defeating it. I saw that it only had a small sliver of health left.

The shield users had defeated their opponents one by one with little difficulty. They had moved in to surround the remaining Trooper. I was directly behind it about two meters away. The Trooper attempted to get at the weakened spearman but faltered. Looking down it saw the tip of my sword piercing it through its chest before turning into a shower of colorful polygons. I had leaped forward and stabbed it through its virtual heart, finally defeating it.

Everyone now turned to the spearman who was just lucky to be alive. Kirito spun his sword and sheathed it behind his back. I returned mine to its scabbard with much less flair. He, the spearman, was still sitting on the ground looking at his feet in shame. Most of the raid group and even some members of his own party were looking at him in disgust. No one made a move to help him, everyone stood very still and just looked at him. Feeling the weight of everyone's glare he put his head to his knees and curled up into a fetal position. It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

"Let's get moving," Diabel said over the silence.

The group proceeded to the door to the next level leaving the spearman where he lies. With his primary weapon destroyed, he was going to be literally useless in the boss battle. He couldn't go back down the Labyrinth to Tolbana, the monsters will have respawned. His only hope to stay alive would be to follow the group and do his best to stay out of the way. I realized that this could be a great opportunity to gain a follower. This would be my first step to accomplishing my goal. If I became his hero, he will follow me to the ends of the earth; well not really… you get the idea. I took a step towards him and held out my hand. He slowly uncurled from his fetal position to see me standing over him with my hand outstretched.

He looked at my hand as if he had never had someone offer to help him when he was down. He raised his gaze to mine, though he couldn't see my eyes due to the shadow cast by my hood. I tried to give him a reassuring smile, but I could still see the hesitation in his brown eyes. He started to reach out but couldn't bring himself to do it. He brought his hand into his chest and curled his head down so he couldn't see me. He was being difficult and I needed to get him out of here, otherwise he will just sit and die. I let my hand fall to my side and turned my back on him. Before I walked away I gave him some advice over my shoulder hoping to get him back on his feet and moving in the right direction,

"Hey, kid, I'm not going to give you some pep talk on how you need to get better. What I am going to do is tell you that you need to get better, because if you don't, you will die. There is only one thing worse than having the chance to prevent your own death and not taking it, and that is having the chance to prevent someone else's death and not taking it. If someone dies because of you, and you know you could have done something to prevent it, the guilt will eat you alive. So take this advice: don't get stronger to ensure your own survival, get stronger to ensure the survival of those around you."

I had taken only a few steps toward the door when I heard him get to his feet. I stopped walking and turned around to see him facing me. A look of fiery determination on his face. My words had struck a cord and motivated him to get back on his feet, to survive.

He looked ready to fight the boss as he was, even with the fact that he did not have a weapon. He tried to walk past me onto the next level but I stopped him by placing my hand on his shoulder. He wasn't that prepared to try and fight without a weapon.

"You can't go any higher without some decent armor; at the very least you need a weapon. I can give you one of my spare weapons, but I can't help you with your lack of armor," I said in a serious tone.

He put his hand behind his head with a sheepish grin on his face. He hadn't spoken yet, he hadn't even introduced himself. I opened my menu with my right hand and moved over to the items tab then to the subcategory 'Weapons.' Taking a good look at him for the first time I tried to find a weapon that would suit what I thought to be his style. He was small, only about five foot six inches or one point six meters tall give or take. The shirt he wore under a small breast plate was short sleeved and yellow. As I scrolled through the small list of available weapons I asked him,

"So you are a spearman, correct?" I had to at least get some kind of idea of what he has used up to this point. I didn't want to give him something that he wasn't prepared to use.

His response was high and nasally, "Y-Yes. Sir. Yes, sir. B-But I can use any-anything you give me… I-I m-mean, anything you want to give me."

As I went through the my available weapons I noticed the dagger 'Sword Breaker' which prompted my next question,

"What level are you? I need to know so I don't give you anything that is too strong." He looked to be around level five or six, not really prepared to be here.

"Oh. My level? It's kind of embarrassing," as he shuffled from foot to foot.

"Well I need to know, otherwise I won't be able to give you anything," I said just as I narrowed down the list to two weapons that I thought would fit him well. A level four one handed curved sword and a level five spear.

The sword was a simple scimitar with a blood red tassel on the pommel. While the spear had a shaft of dark colored wood with a roughly cut stone tip. I hoped he didn't mind the uncool look of the spear because that is what he is probably going to get.

"My level is... (Incoherent mumbling)," he mumbled under his breath with his expression downcast. "You're going to have to speak up kid. I didn't hear you," I told him before I opened up the trade window. He took a deep breath and looked up at me and said, "I am level four." My finger was hovering over the spear I had selected, I looked back at him. I did my best to keep my expression neutral. He looked like he expected me to challenge him on his low level.

There was a moment of silence as I contemplated what to do. I could give him the sword and be done with it... Or I could give him the spear and hope that he was close enough to leveling up to be able to use it in the upcoming boss battle. Boss battle. Suddenly a third idea came to me, I could give him both. He sure as hell wasn't making this easy for me, and it was pissing me the off.

I said in a thick Irish accent, "For fuck's sake!" end accent, "You're only level four!? How in the name of hell did you get to Tolbana in the first place?" I ran my hand through my hair thus removing my hood and revealing an opened mouth, wide eyed look of pure shock, "I don't know if should be impressed with the fact that you made it to this point or shocked that you were stupid enough to try." He tried to give me an answer but it was mumbled, "Well… I just thought… if I made it…" I held my hand up to stop him. I closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose. I couldn't believe this, level four and he made it to Tolbanna. Who would have let this kid party with them? He is so under leveled… I can't even.

I told him, "You know what? Forget it. All that matters is that you are here now, even if you shouldn't be. This is what I am going to do to help you. I'm going to give you this sword and this spear now. The sword you can use for now, and when you level up to level five, you can use this spear." I finalized the trade and sent the proposal to him. He looked at it in amazement. My patience was fleeting, but I tried to keep my face a blank slate.

He nervously raised his hand and pressed the accept option. As I turned around and started to walk to the next level, I could hear him open his menu and equip the sword. I heard the sound of him drawing it just as I reached the door. I opened the door and teleported to the next level, hoping that he would get the message and hurry up. Not three seconds had passed before he materialized beside me. He turned to me and bowed in thanks before running ahead to find his party. Before he got too far I called out,

"Hey, kid. Catch."

I quickly opened another trade window and put my cloak in the item slot. I sent it to him and he quickly accepted the trade. He equipped the cloak, which was now considerably shorter than it was on me, but he left the cowl down. He bowed in thanks and I returned the thanks by bowing myself before he turned and ran after his party.

When I caught up to my own party, Kirito looked at me with a suspicious expression on his face. I looked right back at him before it me. I realized he hadn't seen me without the cloak so right now I looked like a complete stranger to him. To put his suspicions to rest I said to him,

"It's O.K. It's just me, Helgrind. I uhh… helped out that player back there by giving him a few items, nothing major, just enough to keep him alive… Hopefully."

He didn't seem to believe me and looked me up and down. His eyes came to rest on my sword. Recognizing it from earlier, his expression relaxed and he turned his focus to Asuna. They were having a quiet discussion about something that happened the night before. I didn't want to know what happened, so I didn't ask.

On the Twentieth level…

We have finally arrived at the boss room. The raid group huddled around the two massive stone doors. No one dared to speak, not even Diabel the knight. He only raised his silver long sword over his head and gave everyone an exaggerated nod. Most of the group responded with raised weapons and various nods. He turned and placed his left hand in the middle of the two doors and shoved them open while shouting,

"Let's go!"

My first impression of the boss room in all honesty was that it was huge. Easily twenty meters from the wall on our left to the one on our right. I couldn't see the far wall, but I could estimate that it was easily over ninety meters away. Every ten meters or so on each side of the room were columns that held the roof above us. Some of the other general information I know about boss's room is that the doors will not close on us, so we can always leave if we feel overwhelmed. We can also use Teleport Crystals in boss rooms, but those things are expensive as hell and were mostly only attainable on higher floors.

Suddenly, torches attached to the columns started to ignite. The final pair of torches burst to life on opposite sides of a massive throne. The figure in the throne was silhouetted and did not move. Diabel raised his sword and when he brought it down, all hell broke loose. Forty two people charged with weapons in their hands and battle cries on their lips. Kirito, Asuna, and I remained quiet at the back of the group. We drew our weapons: an Anneal Blade, a Wind Fleuret, and an Akutō.

The first group, Group A, was led by Thor. He charged the enemy head on with his hammer raised high above his head. I noticed a shield on his left arm, which was unusual for him but it did give him a higher defensive stat, so good for him. Thor and his party were flanked on the left by Group B, led by the massive axe man Agil. They in turn were flanked on the right by Group C, Diabel's party, the original party that found the boss room. Diabel stood at the back of his party while shouting orders to everyone. He had taken the leadership role seriously and was not disappointing. Flanking far to the right was Mattias and his party. He looked taller than the rest of his party as he led them in an attempt to go around Illfang and attack him from behind. Group E, led by Kibaou, was a support group that was supposed to attack the boss's minions. Groups F and G were also support groups and focused mainly on attacking the minions.

Our party was supposed to "go where we are needed, but do not engage the boss" which I thought was strange, what if we were needed to fight the boss? Do we just not move in? What happens when the minions are all defeated? Do we just sit back and watch? I wasn't going to let that happen no matter what, I was here to defeat the boss, I'll be damned if I don't get at least one combo on the boss. Something told me that Kirito was having similar thoughts.

When Thor and his party were about twenty meters away from the throne, the shadow moved. Not so much that it moved, but that it disappeared. The throne was suddenly empty and the attack came to a screeching halt. Group A looked around in confusion when suddenly the massive form of Illfang dropped from the sky and landed in front of the group.

Illfang the Kobold Lord, in a word? Massive. He stood over two meters tall and probably weighed over two hundred and fifty kilos. In his left hand was a large circular buckler made of leather. While in his right hand, he brandished a large axe that appeared to be made of bone. He had a very wolfish face. I don't mean that it was angular; I mean it was as if someone had taken a giant wolf head and used that to model Illfang's head.

Three of his minions, the Ruin Kobold Sentinels, materialized around him. They were similar to the Kobold Troopers in physical appearance. Short and stocky with large rabbit like ears and a long thick tail. The three Sentinels wore full body armor and each carried a large halberd. These were our targets.

Illfang let out a deafening roar that shook the entire room, dust fell from the ceiling, and his sentinels charged.

Thor let out his own roar and maneuvered between the sentinels to get to Illfang. He was met halfway as Illfang brought his axe down on his head. He only barely had time to raise his shield to block the attack. The impact sent sparks flying in all directions, while the sound of metal on metal reverberated throughout the room. The battle had begun.

Group A, led by Thor, were the first ones to engage the boss directly. They were quickly followed by Group B, led by Agil, flanking on their left. Diabel's group, Group C, flanked on the right. Mattias led Group E behind the boss to fully surround it. While this maneuver was performed, groups E-F moved in on the sentinels.

Kirito, Asuna, and I began to use a "switch and pot" attack strategy. Kirito or I would parry the sentinel's weapon up and out of the way so that Asuna could come in and deal massive damage without getting hurt.

Asuna demonstrated great skill with her rapier despite being a new player. I even caught Kirito admiring her ability before jumping back into the battle. Asuna was the first player to defeat a Ruin Kobold Sentinel. After landing a strong Linear on the sentinel's throat, she quickly followed it up with a quick thrust to the throat. I noticed a moment's hesitation before her thrust, as if she was planning on using another overly powerful attack but thought better of it.

The battle progressed quicker than I had originally anticipated. By the time all three sentinels were defeated, the main attacking groups had depleted Illfang's first HP bar. I thought it was a good thing until another three sentinels spawned and started attacking us again.

I was the nearest to one of the spawned sentinels. I called over my shoulder,

"I got this one! You guys focus on the others!"

In hindsight, it may have not been my smartest move, but it was the one I made so I had to stick to it.

I used the skill Rage Spike to close the distance between myself and the sentinel with a leap. Once I landed, I let the system take over and guide my uppercut strike from my low right to my high left. Flowing with the momentum of the previous strike, I brought my sword over my head and with both hands brought it down hard in the sentinel's armored helmet. In the real world that attack would have left my opponent with a severe concussion, but in this virtual one, the sentinel quickly recovered and began attacking.

I was able to parry its first overhead strike fairly easily. As it swung it's halberd around to strike horizontally I was forced to duck and roll away. I jumped to feet in time to avoid the final overhead attack of its three strike combo. It was immobile from the amount of energy spent on the combo. I held my sword at my left hip and let the system take over.

My sword glowed with a purple light and swung from left to right and back again so quickly it looked like I was using two swords. I aimed my strikes at the shaft of my enemy's halberd attempting to break it. No such luck. I quickly reset my sword and let another skill activate. This time my sword glowed with a red light before slashing diagonally from bottom left to top right, slashing horizontally from left to right, and ending with another diagonal from top right to bottom left. My five hit combo first broke his defense then turned him into a shower of polygons.

The other groups had defeated their opponents much faster than I had and had begun to attack the boss. I did notice however, that Kirito and Asuna refrained from attacking the boss. They stood off to the side and were watching and waiting for another group of sentinels to spawn. I moved to join them

… Later in the battle…

We had finally reduced the boss's health to one third of his last of four health bars. There was still one sentinel to deal with, but Kirito, Asuna and I were handling it. The rest of the raid group had moved in on the boss. Led by Diabel, leader of Group C.

Group C had completely surrounded Illfang. Things were looking pretty good. The tank groups had their health in the yellow, but were in no danger of getting into the red. Thor and Mattias stood on Illfang's left and right respectfully with their respective groups. Illfang roared loudly and threw his bone axe and buckler down. He moved his right hand behind his back to grab the handle of his talwar. When he drew his weapon, I knew something was very wrong.

The weapon in his right hand was long and straight. Now I may not be a weapons expert, but I knew that the weapon in his hand was not a talwar. The description that the guide book gave us was, "... a curved sword-type weapon called a talwar…" and the weapon in his hand was not curved at all. Kirito also noticed that something was up. He called out,

"NO! Fall back!"

But it was too late. The demon human spun 360 degrees and hit every member of Group C. They hit the ground hard and didn't get up. They had little yellow things swirling around their heads, stars maybe? They weren't dead, but they weren't in a much better situation.

They were stunned. Being stunned is one of the, if not the, worst things that could happen to a player in SAO. You were immobile and faced certain death if someone didn't step in to help you.

Everyone else was too stunned to move, and it allowed Illfang the time necessary to recover from the skill. Agil was the first to recover and moved in with Thor and company to try to intercept Illfang's next attack. They were too late.

Illfang used a skill that grabbed Diabel and threw him up into the air. Using a different skill that covered his sword in a red light began attacking. A quick succession of hits and suddenly Diabel's body was flying over the heads of the raid group. It landed near Kirito who was fighting the remaining sentinel.

"Get him, I got this," I called to him as I jumped in front of the sentinel. I held my sword at my left hip and activated the same purple skill I had used before. This time I was able to destroy the weapon and while the sentinel stood there Asuna jumped in and used a skill with such speed that I couldn't follow to kill it.

I turned around in time to see the body of the Diabel, the Shining Knight, cascaded into shards of blue glass. I was shocked. He was our leader, our rock, our inspiration. He shouldn't have been the first to die. Everyone was devastated, none more that Kibaou, he had fallen to his knees and sat there with a look of pure horror on his face.

We had reached an important crossroad. If we fled now, we may never return and be stranded forever on the first floor. We had to fight, more importantly, we had to win. Kirito stood; Asuna and I moved to stand beside him. He looked at her and she said simply,

"We'll go too. We are partners after all."

Most of the raid group was beginning to fall back, some were turning to run. Agil, Thor, and Mattias were doing their best to hold the front together and prevent Illfang from attacking more people.

As one, Kirito and Asuna started to sprint at the boss leaving me in the dust. I moved to catch up to them but there was no way I could pull even. As I ran after them I pulled a throwing pick from my belt with my left hand and sent it flying at the boss's head. The added momentum of me running was enough to knock his head to the side and distract him as Kirito ran in and knocked his sword up and out of the way. Asuna then jumped in stuck the boss in the stomach and sent him hurtling away.

He recovered quickly and was on his feet by the time I finally caught up with my other party members.

"You guys think you could've given me a little heads up? A head nod? Anything, really. Instead of just running into the jaws of death."

They didn't answer and instead pushed the attack on Illfang. They worked great as a team, Kirito deflecting the attacks and Asuna dealing damage.

Suddenly, something went wrong. Kirito was unable to intercept Illfang's sword and took a slash to his chest. It sent him flying into Asuna and the both of them slid to a halt some twenty meters or so away from the boss. Their bodies were tangled together on the floor as they tried to get to their feet. As I moved in to cover them, I saw Illfang closing the distance much faster than me. I knew I couldn't get there in time, but maybe I could buy them a little time.

I selected another throwing pick from my belt and tried to calculate where I would have to throw it so that it would hit Illfang, or at least change his focus to me. As I let the throwing pick go I knew I had been too slow, Illfang was standing over them by the time by projectile flew past, missing him entirely. He grinned wolfishly at my downed companions who raised their weapons to try to block his attack. I thought they were goners.

Suddenly a bright green light flashed and there was a gust of wind blowing through the hall. Almost as if he materialized in front of them, stood Agil and Thor. Their weapons looked as if they had just taken a massive uppercut swing on the boss. The boss flew back ten meters but landed on his feet and roared loudly. Agil said something to Kirito that I couldn't hear but probably went something like this,

"We got this. You two recover your stamina and HP for a bit."

Thor raised his hammer and howled at the boss as the rest of the raid group finally got moving and started attacking the boss again. Led by Thor, Mattias, and Agil the raid group was able to get the boss's HP down to about thirteen percent.

I moved over to Kirito who had just finished drinking a healing potion. I walked up to him and said,

"How about this time, we do it together?"

He nodded curtly and got to his feet with Asuna. This time when they took off sprinting I was right with them. As we approached the front line I shout at Mattias,

"Mattias! Give me a lift!"

He knew what I meant thanks to our long friendship and vast gaming experience. He crouched down as I approached him. I jumped and planted my right foot on his back. I raised my sword over my right shoulder and let the skill Sonic Leap charge. At the same moment that I jumped from his back he stood up quickly to give me an extra boost. I raised my sword above my head and let the skill take over as I brought it down on Illfang's left shoulder.

This gave Kirito the opening to further knock his blade out of the way so that Asuna can deal damage. With two quick thrusts the health bar on the boss continued to diminish. Kirito took the opening to deal a heavy downward strike which he quickly followed up with a massive uppercut swing that sent the Kobold king flying backwards.

He never hit the ground.

As Illfang the Kobold Lord was falling he turned into a shower of colorful shards of blue-green glass.

There was a pause as everyone tried to comprehend what had just happened. We had just defeated the first floor boss!

"We've done it!"

With that shout the entire hall erupted in cheers and merriment. I looked down to see my reward for taking part in defeating the boss. I received 1100 Cor, 2500 Exp. and a firm handshake from Mattias. We both knew that Kirito would be getting the Last Attack Bonus, whatever it was. I was perfectly happy with that, he got the last attack; he deserves whatever comes with it. As congratulations were being passed around one voice rose above the rest,

"Stop cheering!"

Everyone turned to see Kibaou on his knees visibly distraught. His head was down but he spoke loudly and directly at Kirito,

"Why'd you do it huh? Why did you let Diabel die?"

Kirito was still kneeling after delivering the final attack on the boss but had enough strength to respond, if a bit quietly,

"Let him die?"

Kibaou's head snapped up and his tone grew agitated,

"That's what I said. Admit it. You knew the technique the boss was going to use! You could have told us!"

I knew what Kibaou was talking about. Soon after Illfang pulled out a sword that was not a talwar, Kirito tried to tell everyone to get back. He knew the difference between the two swords and what the attack patterns of the unidentified sword were. Even in the Beta I had never seen anything like what I had just faced. Was it possible that Kirito was a Beta tester who got to a higher floor than I did?

Kibaou kept digging into Kirito,

"Then Diabel would've stood a chance. He wouldn't have had to die!"

The other people present began to murmur amongst themselves. It wasn't a pleasant murmuring. From the back of the room came a voice, it was the same spearman whom I had helped from before,

"I know why he knew! He used to be a Beta tester! Think about it, he knew the boss's attack patterns. He knew, but he kept it from us!"

I cringed inwardly trying to maintain a neutral expression. If I hadn't saved his ass he wouldn't be here being an ass to the guy who just killed the boss. As a fellow tester, I also have knowledge that I haven't shared with the general populace. Mostly where the best hunting grounds are for the first six or seven floors, but if Kirito has knowledge on weapons from floors even higher than that… he would be the only one to know the dangers we are going to face. He could become a very useful ally to me, or he could become my worst enemy. I silently hoped it was the former.

The asshole spearman continued ranting,

"And I bet he's not the only Beta tester here. Come on! Show yourselves!"

Everyone began to look around to see if anyone would step forward and admit to being a Beta tester. I caught the eye of Mattias and Thor, and shook my head in silence. We agreed in silence to keep our status unknown.

Things were getting bad, if someone didn't say something to refute his accusations, Beta testers were going to have to worry about more than just random monster encounters while exploring.

I spared Kirito a glance. He was still on the ground and was looking right at the spearman. He turned away, his expression grim. I hoped he was coming up with a plan to save himself from all this hate. I saw him swallow before slowly rising to his feet.

Meanwhile, Agil and Asuna were trying to get everyone to calm down while Thor and Mattias talked to the spearman directly. Suddenly, a very creepy laugh began to echo through the hall. I scanned the room for the source and was surprised to find that Kirito was the source.

Those closest to him took a few steps backwards. With his back still to us, he spoke,

"So you guys think I used to be a Beta tester? It's not cool to put me in the same class as those noobs."

He sounded like he just heard a terrible joke that everyone else thought was funny, but he didn't. As for what he said, ouch man. I was part of those noobs. I hoped I had gotten past the title of "noob" back when I used to play CoD.

"What'd you say?" asked Kibaou in a very angry way. The rest of the room had fallen deathly silent.

"You heard me," Kirito continued, "Most of the 1000 people who scored a slot in SAO's Beta were rookies. They were so green they didn't even know how to level up. Hell, even you guys were better than they were."

He began to advance on Kibaou, the raid group dividing in front of him like the Reed Sea to Moses. Once again his statements hurt, but were in fact kind of true. Many people in the Beta were more focused on the scenery than the actual game itself.

"But me? I'm nothing like those guys man." He stopped about a meter away from Kibaou and continued with an evil looking sneer on his face, "During the Beta, I made it to floors that were higher than any of the other testers. That's a fact. I knew about the boss because I fought tons of monsters with way more sword skills on higher floors. I know a bunch of other things too, more than you can imagine, more than any info broker."

Now Kirito was beginning to freak me out a bit. If what he said was true, then as of now he is the strongest player in the game.

I wasn't the only one who was unsettled, Kibaou got to his feet and moved another meter away from Kirito before speaking again,

"Wh-What the hell? If that's true then you're worse than a Beta tester. You're a God damn cheater! That's what you are!"

The raid group suddenly burst out agreeing with Kibaou. Shouting random things about cheaters and Beta testers. Some wise ass decided to combine the two words into one, "Beater."

The sneer never left Kirito's face as he said quietly at first but with growing volume,

"A Beater, yeah, that's good. I like it. O.K. You can call me a Beater; just don't confuse me with those Beta testers anymore."

He turned and opened up his menu with his right hand. After scrolling for a bit he selected an item an equipped it. There was a brief flash of blue light and then suddenly Kirito was wearing a knee length black coat. He flapped the coat as he turned and walked away. As he reached the stairs leading to the next level Asuna ran after him.

I turned to my friends and gave them a subtle head nod to meet me away from the group. As I walked over to a nearby pillar a small notification appeared in my field of view. It read, "Kirito has disbanded the party." I was perfectly fine with that being as that was my next move as well. Before completely closing my menu I added Kirito to my friends list.

Mattias and Thor walked over and stood with their arms crossed. They seemed to be waiting for me to start this little meeting. So I asked simply,

"So what do you guys think?"

"About what?" was Mattias' quick response.

I let out a quick breath before elaborating, "About this whole Beta tester business? About Kirito just taking all the pressure and painting a target on himself? About, oh I don't know…" I ran a hand through my virtual hair and gave one final question, "Do you think we should reveal ourselves as Beta testers?"

My last question seemed to catch them a little bit off guard. Mattias crossed his arms over his chest and looked at the ceiling twenty meters above us. Thor stroked his beard and looked at the ground. Mattias gave his answer first,

"There is nothing we can do about being Beta testers, we were in the Beta, and therefore we are Beta testers. Nothing can change that. As for that guy, you said his name was Kirito right?" I nodded. "Well there isn't really anything that we can do about that either. That leads into your final question, what should we do? I say we do nothing. Right now people are going to see Beta testers as the bad guys, they may even attack us. If they don't know, they can't hurt us."

I took a moment to think over what he said. He was right that there wasn't anything we could do about being Beta testers. I thought there might be something that we can do for Kirito, but… if we do something, people might find out that we are Beta testers… that wouldn't be good. I did agree that we shouldn't reveal our status as Beta testers. There was something nagging me in the back of my mind. Like there was some way to help Kirito without revealing us. I turned to Thor to get his answer.

He kept his focus on the floor. Small talk wasn't his strong suit. He looked up at me and then at Mattias, and nodded his head. I guess he was on the same page as Mattias.

I turned towards the stairs leading up to floor two. I noticed Asuna walking back down the stairs and upon reaching the bottom, stopped and looked back up at the large door that led to the second floor. I turned back to my friends,

"The news about the floor being cleared will spread quickly; people will swarm to get the best items. I am going to follow Kirito, see if I can't talk to him. I would like to see the two of you and everyone else up there in the next week."

I received a pair of nods from them, and turning again towards the stairs, began the walk towards the second floor.

As I walked, no one followed; no one moved towards the stairs, everyone went back the way they came. It wouldn't matter, in less than a few hours a couple thousand players would swarm the second floor starting city, Urbus.

For now, it seems that Kirito and I will be the only players on the second floor…

**A/N: **I am sorry about the long delay in updating, as many of you may know, life can be a real bitch. I just got back from spring break in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina and it was… interesting and tiring to say the least. I look forward to your reviews and starting the next chapter.


	4. Moving Up

**Chapter 4: Moving Up**

**A/N:** Hello again. I have gotten two reviews for this story, one that boosted my confidence and the one that totally ripped it to shreds (and one that was too funny for me to take seriously). Good, bad, or otherwise any reviews are helpful to the writing process. If you guys or girls have any ideas that you think would make my story better, I'm all ears. More on that later. For now, enjoy!

As I climbed that stairs to floor two, I racked my brain to see what I remembered about the second floor from the Beta test. Yeah, I am a Beta tester. So what? It's not like I've taken advantage of my knowledge and jumped in front of everyone to show off. Well maybe not showing off but… regardless as to how I act, being a Beta tester has just become rather difficult. The first floor boss, Illfang the Kobold Lord, was just defeated about fifteen minutes ago. It should have been a time to celebrate; instead it turned into a finger pointing event in which Beta testers were singled out as being the reason for the loss of the over two thousand player's lives on the first floor. Though not all Beta testers have a bad light on them, only the "Beaters." The ex-Beta testers who have more knowledge than the regular player who use that knowledge for their own personal gain. The "leader" of the Beaters is the one who got the Last Attack on the boss, Kirito.

I was snapped out of my thoughts when the words Inner Area floated across my HUD. I looked up to see a few of the NPC's walking around. They looked similar to the ones on the first floor, but with just a hint of change to give off the feeling of being on a different floor. The whole town had this kind of sad vibe to it. It was probably just the subtle change in the instruments from the first floor to the second. I continued to walk into the town, trying to get my bearings when I noticed a green cursor on my HUD, another player. I started to walk towards them, but suddenly the green arrow was moving quickly to the right as if the player was sprinting. I wondered what they could possibly be running from when suddenly another green arrow appeared, then another and another. Pretty soon a sea of green arrows appeared and started to spread out. It was then that I realized that the player who I had seen running must have been Kirito, and he had opened the teleport gate connecting to the first floor.

Why would he do something like that? We could have easily completed some of the easier slaughter quests before any of the other players arrived. It also ruined any chance that I had of talking to him alone. As the ocean of players began to spread out, I realized that I had to blend in so that I wouldn't appear suspicious.

I moved among the others without attracting a whole lot of attention as I moved towards the center of the plaza. Suddenly a petite avatar jumped through the portal, she nearly ran me over as she sprinted away. While she ran away I looked after her with a confuse expression, I had this feeling that I had seen her before, but I couldn't place it. The only things that I could see on her face were a pair of whiskers on her cheeks. Before I could put two and two together, a pair of tall lean avatars shoved past me and ran after the girl. The girl I now know to be none other than Argo "The Rat", the most famous/infamous info broker that the Beta test had to offer.

If those two guys were chasing after her, then she must have some pretty useful info that she isn't willing to share. Or they don't have the money necessary to buy it off her. I began to jog after the trio of players when I noticed a flash of movement on the rooftops to my right. I didn't pay it any mind and continued on my way.

I thought back to the Beta test trying to remember if there was anything useful that could be obtained at such of low level. I couldn't think of any items that were rare enough for two guys to chase after The Rat. So either they were really stupid. Or really, really smart. The thought of me being outsmarted spurred me to quicken my pace. Pretty soon I was all out sprinting after them.

When I reached the border of the town, I slowed but only for a second as I passed through the invisible barrier that made the town safe and the wilderness dangerous.

Ahead of me lay a field of golden wheat that went on for as far as the map would allow. I could see multiple paths where the wheat had been trampled underfoot. By multiple, I mean two. The one that I was following was larger than the other and led straight towards a rocky outcropping. The second smaller trail seemed to have a similar destination in mind. I continued along the larger trail and arrived at the entrance to the rocky outcrop. I moved to one side of the entrance when I heard voices. I couldn't quite hear what they were saying, but strained to do so anyway. I knew I needed to know what was going on. So I moved closer. When I was close enough to hear voices, what I heard turned me to stone.

"... The acquisition quest for the Extra Skill already!"

An Extra Skill quest? This early in the game? There was no way that could be true. If the Rat knew about one, she must have found out about it herself. As far as I or anyone else was aware the first Extra Skill quest was on the sixth floor, and the skill itself wasn't very desirable. That skill was called Meditation, and it didn't have any offensive capabilities so very few players got it once they knew what it was. If these two goons were willing to chase after the Rat, and keep up with her, this skill must have some offensive abilities.

I moved my hand to the hilt of my sword and began to creep towards the entrance. I needed to assess the situation, if I had to fight two on one I would. Wouldn't be happy about it, or live to tell about it, but if I had to I would.

Suddenly a new voice joined the other three,

"Oh, that's it!"

The voice sounded familiar, but I couldn't match a name to the voice. Whoever it was seemed to know what was going on. I really hated that I wasn't in the loop. I was about to move into the entrance to figure out what the hell was going on when a crunching sound was made behind me. I whipped around and found myself face to face with a Trembling Ox.

It stood about two, two and a half, meters to the shoulder and was almost bursting with muscle. I remembered these monsters from the Beta. They were found only on the second floor, had attack power and strength that fit their bodies, and had the longest targeting ranges of any of the monsters that I fought during the Beta. I turned to face the Ox head on and backed up as far as I could against the wall. There was no way I was going to survive a fight against this thing and then another possible fight to save Argo. But what if it attacked the two goons who were trying to coerce info out of her?

My mind began running a few scenarios, the best involve climbing the rocks so that the Ox couldn't get to me, but would be fully able to attack the goons. I turned to face the rock and began to climb as fast as I could. I reached a point where I thought I would be safe from it and turned around. The Trembling Ox just looked up at me and then turned its head to the entrance to the outcrop. Hopefully it would find easier targets than me.

I sat and watched the Ox move into the enclosure, I didn't have to wait long to get reaction. There were a pair of shouts and I saw two figures dash past me headed towards the town with a massive cow moving at a speed that didn't match its size. The earth trembled beneath its mighty hooves as it chased the two fools who thought that they could get rough with the Rat.

I sat on that ledge and watch the chase until I finally saw the huge bulk of the Ox disappear over the horizon.

Climbing down the rocks was a more difficult challenge than originally thought. While descending, my left foot slipped and I was barely able to hang on with my hands.

"Curse my lack of upper body strength." I muttered to myself.

I looked down over my left shoulder to see the Rat and, was that Kirito? It looked like the same cloak that he equips after the first floor boss and since there were no others like it, it had to be him.

"Hey, Kirito! Could you, uh, give me a hand getting down from here? Please?" I called over to him hoping he would lend me some assistance. I started to look for any footholds that I could use to continue climbing down.

I found one near where my right foot was dangling; as I applied my weight slowly it seemed to hold.

"You seem to have everything under control," I heard Kirito say.

I looked back over my shoulder to see him smiling with Argo struggling to contain her laughter.

"Come on man, help a brother- SHIT!"

In my effort to make a retort I leaned too far off of the wall and lost my handholds, thus beginning my free fall headfirst to the ground four meters below me.

I put my arms out in front of me and braced myself for the collision. As soon as my hands touched the ground I tucked and rolled and came to a stop right in front of Kirito and Argo.

I gave them a sheepish smile and got to my feet while dusting myself off. I turned to walk back to Urbus when I remembered how I got out here. I was chasing two guys who were chasing Argo that had information about a secret skill that supposedly was very useful. I raised my right hand and turned one hundred eighty degrees on my heel and said to the pair,

"You know if I hadn't been there to attract the Trembling Ox, you would have had to fight those two alone, and no offense, I don't think you would have won. So, if you tell me about this hidden skill, I'll call it even."

Kirito turned to Argo and they had a silent conversation together. When I looked back at me he looked like he was about to deliver grave news. He was scowling slightly with his eyebrows knit close together and his lips turned down into a frown. He let out a sigh as Argo stepped forward. She looked me in the eye and I was intimidated despite her much smaller stature. She said,

"I'll take you to the Hidden Skill, but you have to promise one thing: Regardless of the outcome, don't blame me-na!"

It seemed kind of strange for me. Was this going to be a dangerous quest? Was my life going to be in danger? I thought over what could be the possible outcomes and I came to the conclusion that going for this quest would be worth my time. If things kept going the way they were, we wouldn't make it to the sixth floor. I needed all the help I could get for myself.

"I promise, that regardless of the outcome, I will not hold you responsible."

Argo seemed to accept my promise and bowed deeply. "Now follow me-na," and she turned around and began to walk away.

We walked for hours. It. Was. Terrible.

I am usually the one who will explore endlessly when playing a game, but this was just terrible. It was worse than terrible, it was turrible.

Argo led Kirito and I deep into the mountains of Floor 2, along twisting paths and across dangerous cliffs. I looked down to my left over a cliff face trying to see the bottom; all I could see was black. I thought about what would happen if you fall, would you die when you hit the bottom, or would the system just assume that you couldn't survive a fall from this height and kill you on the way down?

There was something to think about, being killed by the system and not another player. Who would be at fault there? The player? The people around the player who let him jump? Or would it be Akihiko Kayaba, the developer of the game and the NerveGear that was currently positioned over my head poised to kill me at a moment's notice. The fault would be on him, or at least it should be. He was the one who designed this death game; he let innocent people die because he just wanted to make some money. If I survive long enough to get out of this hell hole, I am going to sue that motherfucker for everything he has and then some.

Lost in my thoughts I bumped into Argo, not noticing that she had stopped.

"Sorry about that, I was… elsewhere…"

She shrugged; I looked up to see we had arrived at the mouth of a small cave with a river running right down the middle.

"Is this where the Extra Skill is located?" I asked.

"Yeah, but we're not there yet-na!" Argo replied with a sly smile.

I looked at Kirito and tried to see how he reacted to this. He was looking straight ahead, completely focused. He probably didn't hear anything that we just said.

He stepped forward and led the three of us into the cave. I looked over my shoulder at the last bit of sunlight that shone through the cave. It was a pretty beautiful scene actually, the dust particles floating in the air catching and reflecting the sun. It was almost peaceful, but then I remembered that this was all a lie, and the man behind it was a cowardly murderer.

As we moved farther into the cave I thought that something wasn't adding up. If this hidden skill was so important, why was it so easy to get to? I was about to raise my doubts when I heard a faint buzzing sound.

"Hey, do you guys hear that?"

Argo stopped walking but Kirito kept moving and replied calmly over his shoulder,

"Yeah, been hearing that for about five minutes now. I think there are some enemies up ahead."

"Well thanks for keeping us in the loop, Kirito."

I shook my head and prepared to ready my sword. With my left hand I just slightly removed the sword from its scabbard. The path in front of us was dark and the buzzing began to grow increasingly louder. Suddenly, there were monsters all around us. They looked like giant wasps, easily ten times the size of a regular wasp.

I drew my sword from my scabbard and began my attacks. Sword skills weren't needed here, just regular attacks with our weapons. I began swinging my sword in elegant circles and advanced upon my first opponent. With a quick thrust to the abdomen it turned to a shower of blue polygons that briefly lit up the immediate area. The next three wasps that I faced were dispatched similarly. I try not to waste my energy fighting; I will need it for when I do the real fighting later.

I turned around to find Kirito already walking away and Argo giving me one of those looks, like 'Come on man, you're so slow.'

I sheathed my sword and hurried after the two into the darkness ahead.

After two more encounters with giant wasps…

"Jesus Argo, where are we?" I asked exasperated.

Kirito was the one to answer, he gave me a calm (does this guy have any other emotions?) answer,

"Well according to the map, we are near the summit of a high mountain on the southern border of the second floor."

I made a mental note of what he said. With my right hand I opened my main menu and maneuvered over to the map tab and placed a marker about where I was standing. Info on this special skill could be worth a small fortune, especially on such a low level.

We turned around a corner and were met with the sight of a lone tree, a small pond, and a quaint little hut.

"...Is it here?" Kirito asked hesitantly.

Argo nodded and walked over to the hut without any hesitation. When she got to the front door she forcefully kicked it in.

I was a little bit surprised by her actions but relaxed when she didn't seem afraid that something would attack. Kirito and I peered over her shoulders to see an NPC sitting in a room with some simple furniture. A cot in the corner, small fire pit with a kettle hanging over it, and a few small cabinets scattered around.

The NPC was not the frail old man I had been expecting. Who else would sit atop a high mountain and offer wisdom? He was surprisingly well built, with a bald head and a large thick beard. If he had any tattoos on him and a black leather jacket, I would have thought he was a member of a biker gang. There was a large ? floating above his head, indicating that he had a quest to give. I took a step back and opened my menu again.

I went to my friend's list and scrolled down to Mattias, I sent him a quick message, "Keep it secret. Keep it safe." This was part of our code, this simply meant… (What? you thought I was going to tell you? HA! You will find out soon enough).

I tuned back into the conversation that Argo and Kirito had started,

"This is service-yo," Argo said then elaborated, " Martial Arts is a skill that allows attacking with bare hands… that is my speculation. It would be effective when the weapon is dropped, or its durability is at the limit-na."

Kirito was processing the information as he said, "O-Oh… then it would be useful, unlike Meditation . In that case… I see, so that's why you got stuck with those ninja at that place…"

"Ninja? What ninja?" I interjected.

"Those guys in the field that chased me out of town-yo," Argo explained to me.

"Oh, those were ninja? They didn't look like ninja. They looked like pirates."

We didn't linger on the subject and returned our focus to why we were here in the first place, the Hidden Skill, Martial Arts .

Things were starting to make sense to me. They wanted this skill because it would make them more like ninja. There was one thing that wasn't making sense to me, why didn't Argo just say, 'I don't know."? Kirito must have been thinking along the same lines because his next question was the very one I had been thinking,

"Then, why didn't you just say 'I don't know' at that time? So they wouldn't keep haunting you like that?"

Argo was already one step ahead, she responded without any hesitation, "That single 'I don't know' would destroy my pride as an information dealer."

"So instead," I reasoned, "You chose to say 'I know but won't sell it'. I understand what you mean, if people think that you don't have all the information you claim to have, then they won't trust you to have any information at all."

"And the reason you won't sell is that the one who buys it would hold a grudge against you." Kirito then continued, "But even saying so, don't you already have a lot of enemies due to your business?"

Argo was quick to dismiss that line of thought, "People usually forget the grudge having bought information just after three days-sa." She looked down and a shadow fell across her face hiding her features from us, but she continued, "But this guy is different-da! Even if it turns out to be lame, you still have to keep it for your whole life-yo…" She trailed off and I was beginning to understand what she meant.

She meant that no matter what happens, there is a chance that we will carry this mark for the rest of our lives.

Argo began to shudder slightly; Kirito stepped forward and said,

"I already knew I'd need to experience it myself anyway. So its fine, I promise. No matter what the outcome, I won't blame Argo."

He turned to me and gave me a pointed look that clearly told me to promise the same thing.

I quickly stepped up to Argo and told her,

"I promise that I won't hold a grudge against you." I gave her a small smile hoping that it would reassure her. She returned my smile, but I could tell she wasn't reassured. There was just something about the way her eyes scanned my face that gave the feeling that she wanted this conversation to end. I took a step back and turned to Kirito, gave him a nod and we both approached the old man in the hut.

The old man looked up from his meditation pose and asked simply,

"Thou wishes to be a disciple?"

Kirito and I looked at each other out of the corners of our eyes and said at the same time,

"...Yes"

"Even though there be a long and steep road of training?" The old man continued.

"I'm expecting no less," Kirito said. I wish I could have sounded as confident as he did. I was afraid that this guy was going to give us an impossible task and mark us for the rest of our lives.

The ? above the old man's head changed into a ! , thus indicating that the quest had been accepted.

The old man, whom Kirito and I now called Master, led us outside towards a huge rock at the edge of the garden. The rock was surrounded by cliffs that reached even further into the sky than I thought. The boulder itself was about two meters tall, and about a meter and a half in diameter. The master approached the rock and placed his right hand gingerly on the surface while he stroked his beard with his left hand. He spoke,

"Thine training is just one. Splitting this rock using only thy palms. Once thou have succeeded, I shall teach thee all my knowledge."

"Hold on a second…" "... W-Wait a bit." Kirito and I said at the same time.

Kirito moved over to the rock and laid his hand on it. He closed his eyes and concentrated on its durability. Suddenly his eyes opened wide like dinner plates and I could tell that we were in for a world of suffering. He moved to try and talk to the Master but was cut off.

"Until this rock is split, leaving this mountain is forbidden. And thou hast to demonstrate it in front of me," the Master said. Then he moved with outstanding speed and quickly painted something on Kirito's face before moving to me and doing the same thing. I was too surprised to even try and move.

Argo, who was standing off to the side, looked like she was trying to hold back laughter. Kirito was trying to remove the marks from his face, rubbing furiously with both hands but to no avail.

The Master spoke then, "That Mark cannot be removed until thou hath split this rock and finished the training. I believe in thee, my disciples."

With that he turned and walked into his hut and slammed the door.

… (Three days later) …

"Thank the Gods, it's finally over. Three days and nights on non-stop punching and we finally broke that damn rock," I said while breathing heavily.

Kirito, with his hands on his knees and his head down, just nodded in agreement. Then he said, "It's a good thing we promised not to hold a grudge against Argo."

I chuckled and nodded along with him. Argo would have most definitely had some people hold grudges against her if she sold the info for this quest to players who weren't strong enough mentally to complete it.

That got me thinking; perhaps the most powerful weapon in the game was not a sword?

**A/N:** How are you guys enjoying the story so far? I know it's really slow right now but I promise that the next chapter will have a lot more action in it than this one. If you have any ideas I'd love to hear them! Until next time.


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